Transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) is a critical immunosuppressive cytokine that inhibits the cell-mediated immune responses partly via inhibition of immunostimulatory cytokine production from T cells, NK cells, and macrophages. Here we investigated the effect of TGFbeta on NK cell activation induced by interleukin 18 (IL-18) using a murine NK cell line LNK5E6. IL-18 activated LNK5E6 cells to produce antiviral activity against vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and TGFbeta inhibited this activation. TGFbeta inhibited interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production in LNK5E6 cells treated with IL-18. TGFbeta also suppressed the IL-18 induced mRNA expression of IFN-gamma Moreover, TGFbeta did not affect the transcriptional activity of IFN-gamma but decreased the half-life of IFN-gamma mRNAinduced by IL-18. These results suggest that the destabilization of IFN-gamma mRNA induced by TGFbeta leads to the inhibition of antiviral activity and IFN-gamma production in IL-18 stimulated LNK5E6 cells. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.